March 2, 1827 and is buried in the Norwich cemetery!' Following her death, the children were placed in the homes of relatives since her widower husband was physically unable to care for them"(Fig. 5.) 8. Young Man With Masonic Pin; Attributed to Benjamin Greenleaf; ca. 1812; Oil on glass; 10 x 8"; Collection of the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Center. The obviously Masonic insignia he wears is a Past Masters jewel, while the triangle is a Royal Arch insignia. The identity of this subject is unknown. However, only three other Greenleaf portraits are as small as this one: that ofSarah Prentiss and those of the Wheelocks. The similarity in appearance between Sarah and this young man suggests that he may have been a member of the Prentiss family of Newton, Massachusetts. (Fig. 6.) 9. Sarah Holt Wiggin; Benjamin Greenleaf; 1813; Oil on glass; 15 x 11"; Collection of the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Center. Inscribed in pencil on the backing board: "Mrs. Sarah Wiggin/ AE 55/ Painted by Benjamin Greenleaf/ October 4, 1813:' Also inscribed at a later time: "Mrs. Sarah Wiggin/ Age 55/ Painted by/ Benjamin Greenleaf/ Oct 1813:' Little has been discovered concerning the subject. As Mrs. Sarah Holt, presumably a widow or divorcee, from Milford, New Hampshire, she married Benjamin Wiggin of Hopkinton, New Hampshire. His first wife, Elizabeth Clement Wiggin, had died October 31, 1824, at sixty- five In addition to this October 10, 1813 portrait of Sarah Holt Wiggin, Greenleaf, also in October 1813, painted the portraits of Benjamin Wiggin Chase and Samuel Greenleaf Chase, grandchildren of Benjamin Wiggin and his first wife. In March of that same year, also in Hopkinton, he had painted the portraits of Elizabeth Wiggin Little and Mary Eliza Little, daughter and granddaughter of Benjamin Wiggin and his first wife (Fig. 7.) 10. Mrs. Benjamin Fletcher; Attributed to Benjamin Greenleaf; ca. 1813; Oil on glass; 161 / 4 x 111 / 2"; Private collection. According to a previous owner, Benjamin Fletcher was from Westminster, Vermont. However, The Vermont Gazetteer' has a lengthy report on Westminster with no mention of a Benjamin Fletcher. The Vermont Census Index for 1810 has no listing for a Benjamin Fletcher, while that for 1820 records him as a resident of Woodstock.(Fig. 8.) U. Benjamin Fletcher; Attributed to Benjamin Greenleaf; ca. 1813; Oil on glass. It is assumed that such a painting has existed on the 46
basis of the fact that the portrait of his wife was accompanied by a matching frame Present whereabouts unknown. 12. Hannah Minot Moody; Attributed to Benjamin Greenleaf; ca. 1817; Oil on glass; 16 x 11"; Collection of Charles E. Burden. Hannah, daughter of Captain John and Hannah Bradstreet Minot, was born March 20, 1736'in the fort at Richmond!' about ten miles from Bath. She grew up in Brunswick, Maine, and on February 7, 1758 married Samuel Moody, a commissioned officer in the Army!'Her husband was born August 11, 1730 at Fort George, Brunswick, the son of Dr. Samuel and Mary Wheelwright Moody. After their marriage they moved to Boston and later to Bath. They had eleven children, many of whom were active in the building !Their and command of ships built in Bath! daughter, Esther Wheelwright Moody, married Henry Sewall, nephew of Dummer Sewall. The connection between the SewalIs and the Moodys goes back even farther,to the marriage of Rev. Samuel Moody, Esther W. Moody's great-grandfather, to Hannah Sewall!" A son of Hannah Minot Moody, John Minot Moody, had a daughter, Mary, who, in 1887, presented the Sagadahoc Historical Society in Bath with a "mourning ring" worn by her grandmother, Hannah, after the death of her husband, whom she outlived by twenty-three years!'It is believed that Hannah Minot Moody is buried in the old Sewall Cemetery (now know as the Dummer and Beacon Streets Cemetery) in Bath, along with her husband and children!' (Fig. 9.) 13. John Minot. This portrait is known only through its listing in the WPA Inventory of Paintings for Massachusetts:" "MINOT, John, 1783-1861, Boston. Died in Farmington, Maine. Married in 1806 Calla Smith. Oil on glass, attributed to Benjamin Greenleaf, c. 1817, 171 / 2 x 121 / 2'.' White ruffled shirt and collar, yellow waistcoat, dark blue coat with yellow buttons. Half-length, profile, OWNER: Rev. Glenn Tilley Morse, West Newbury, 1936:' Both Hannah Minot Moody and John Minot are descended from Thomas Minot of Saffron Walden, Essex, England ! ! John,the fourth often children ofGeorge and Eunice Billings Minot!' was born November 16, 1783 in Dorchester, Massachusette On November 27, 1806 he married Calla, the daughter of Joseph and Calla Allen Smith.' John Minot does not appear in the 1810 Massachusetts Census Index, but in the Boston Directory for 1813 we find "John Minot, painter, Bromfield Lane' In the 1816 directory he is listed as a painter at Common
Street, and in the 1820 directory there is a John Minot recorded as a Custom house officer at Battery-march Street. This information places him in Boston in 1817, which is where and when his portrait was painted, according to the WPA Inventory. There is no evidence at all, however, to support the Inventory's contention that he died in Farmington, Maine. A John Minot did die in Farmington, but that was in 1814. The John Minot of the portrait did, in fact, die in Boston on March 5, 1861 at the age of seventy-seven years, three months and seventeen days. His residence at the time was 1 Bradford Street; the cause of death is recorded as influenza and exhaustion!' 14. Unidentified Baby Girl; Attributed to Benjamin Greenleaf; ca. 1817; Oil on glass; 141 / 2 x 10/ 1 2"; Private collection. Of the fifty-six known Greenleaf portraits, ten are of children. They include those of the Richmond sisters, the Chase brothers, Mary Eliza Little, Henry Bromfield McCobb, Miss Crowninshield, Mary Ann Cushing Nichols and Girl with Flowers. Of all, Unidentified Baby Girl appears to be the youngest. The flowers she holds are almost identical to those held by the child in Girl with Flowers and in the picture of Mary Ann Cushing Nichols, but she most closely resembles Miss Crowninshield, Little Girlfrom Boston, who is also represented in profile. (Fig. 10.) 15. Joseph Goold; Benjamin Greenleaf; 1818; Oil on glass. Inscribed on the backing board: "The portrait of my Unkle (sic) Joseph Goold/ Born at Nantasket Aged 71 in July the 7 1817/ Painted by Benjamin Greenleaf at Bath/ Feb. 19, 1818"; Private collection of Mr. and Mrs. Horton Foote. Joseph, the son of Joseph and Hannah Binney Goold, was born in Hull(then Nantasket) July 27, 17454 ! . His father was the first cousin of Jacob Goold, the subject of Greenleaf's first portrait, while his sister, Mary, married John Greenleaf and was the mother of the artist, Benjaminl' In March 1759, at thirteen years of age, he is listed as a member of the Hull Foot Company"and served in the French and Indian War as a "mess boy'46 The family moved from Hull to Bath some time between 1760, when the youngest child, Stephen, was born and 1769, when Joseph Goold's name is listed among those residing in the Second Parish of Bath"' He married Mary (or Polly) Coombs of Brunswick, Maine. They had six children, all born in Georgetown(now West Bath, Maine) On May 30, 1795,the name of Joseph Goold is recorded in parish records as voting against a Mr. Wallis, while the names of Dummer Sewall (painted by Greenleaf